Anima
by ChedderChez
Summary: One-shot. The past isn't forgotten so easily, and sometimes still affects people in the present. How will Natsu solve Lisanna's inner conflict?


**A/N: **First of all, must give credit where credit is due. This story was inspired by SoulAcademy's brilliant thought-inducing description for his Natsu/Lisanna story community, _Peaceful Ferocity_.

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Fairy Tail.

* * *

Dark, saturated clouds hung in the skies above Magnolia, threatening to block out the solar rays and turn daylight into darkness. The citizens stared up uneasily and quickly finished whatever it was they were doing—shopping, street-performing, jogging. A frantic scramble for shelter initiated, but only all too late. Groans emanated from various individuals and eventually broke out into a tormenting chorus of curses as the atmospheric sponges released a stream of water.

Towards the south of town, located a few kilometers up the central road, Cana Alberona was seated on top a table, staring at the rain in disinterest. After a few seconds, she shrugged and once again focused on drinking from the barrel of alcohol that she held between her arms. She made no signs of setting down the wooden container any time soon.

'_Kinana, two drinks here, if you would.'_

The other members, though, were not as unperturbed as Cana. Some had wanted to go on a mission, but there would be inevitable delays on the train. Others just wanted to go for a walk, maybe hang out with their non-magical friends. The plans were, of course, ruined now.

'_Oi, Mirajane, there's no more beer.'_

In an attempt to direct blame away from herself, though no one really blamed her at all, Juvia insisted, "It's not Juvia's fault." The words triggered an interesting event, for a few towns over in the Sabertooth guild house, Sting Eucliffe let out a sneeze. But that's a story for another time.

'_Kinana, can you go down and fetch a few barrels?'_

When Juvia realized her mistake, she stopped and turned her attention elsewhere. One such pair who had plans for that day was Natsu and Lucy. Just yesterday, Lucy had boldly confessed to the pink-haired dragon-slayer. Natsu gladly decided to give the relationship a chance, though Juvia was sure Natsu didn't actually know the extent of his feelings for Lucy yet. To agree on a date this early on could go both ways. Their bond with each other at this point just wasn't as perfect as her bond with Gray.

'_Mirajane, I think Cana's drunk again.'_

As Natsu sat with his companions, he couldn't help but feel that something was amiss. There was something lacking that caused a weird emptiness within the dragon-slayer. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake off the feeling of incompleteness. Such a thing didn't bode well with Natsu, and he was starting to get frustrated.

'_Hey, Kinana, why don't you take a break?'_

That's it! Until now, Natsu had only been hearing the guild members call out to Mirajane or Kinana for help. The guild was devoid of its volunteer who usually helped Mirajane with work.

"Where's Lisanna?" Natsu asked.

At the question, his three companions turned their heads to look around the building. "Now that you mention it, it is rare for Lisanna to be absent. She's not exactly the mission type, preferring to socialize instead," Gray commented.

"I'm kind of envious," Lucy said. "It must be nice to have a brother to take care of the income."

"I don't think that's the only reason Lisanna hasn't taken on much missions recently," Erza replied.

At this point, Natsu was getting annoyed. His initial question was left unanswered, and so it was up to him to contemplate the answer. The feat took much concentration, but in the end Natsu was still clueless as to Lisanna's location. Hopefully, she wasn't stranded in the rain.

* * *

A few blocks north of the guild, the home of the Take-Over siblings blended in with the rest of the buildings. The rain steadily pounded on the second floor window. A flash of lightning illuminated the area, and for a brief second, the objects on the other side of the glass pane became visible.

A young female figure sat on top her bed. Her arms were wrapped around her knees and clenched between her knees and her chest was a soft pillow. Her expression gave away the fact that she was feeling down at the moment. She appeared to be deep in thought.

And she was. At that moment, memories of the previous day were replaying in her head. It all started with Lucy's confession and Natsu's acceptance.

_It was an ordinary day at the guild. Lisanna assisted Mirajane at the counter, attending to the needs of the Fairy Tail members. Suddenly, one section of the guild became silent, and that silence soon spread through the whole hall like an epidemic. The center of attention was Natsu and Lucy, mainly Lucy. A deep blush was plastered over her face. She was stuttering, unable to get words out of her mouth._

Lisanna had steeled herself for that moment. She knew it would be coming; she knew that no matter how much she denied it, Natsu and Lucy were continuously furthering there relationship.

"_Will you go out with me?" Lucy finally found the courage to ask those words._

At that point, it was only a matter of time before they became official. All that was needed was Natsu's reply.

"_Sure. Right now?"_

_The look of glee and relief became evident in Lucy. "How about tomorrow?" she stated more confidently. _

_Natsu shrugged. "I don't see the difference, but okay."_

Yet, Lisanna couldn't help but ask herself, _"How did it happen?" _When exactly did Lucy replace her in Natsu's life? The answer was quite clear; the turbulence outside made sure of that Lisanna didn't forget about the maelstrom that was the cause of a two-year blank in her existence on Earth Land, and more importantly, the cause the poignant separation between her and Natsu. Anima and by extension, Edolas was at fault.

Lisanna didn't know how to feel about this. The people on Edolas had been so nice to her. They made her experience there a lot less painful than it would have been. Yet, she hated the place for taking away everything from her. She knew harboring negative emotions for innocent people was wrong, but she couldn't help it. And that feeling of guilt was eating away at her.

* * *

By nightfall, the rain had stopped, allowing the members to return home. Natsu had fallen asleep. When he woke up to Happy's calls, he noticed Lucy had already left, and so ran to catch up with her. Happy followed closely behind.

The clouds had cleared away, revealing a star-filled sky. As Natsu looked, a strange formation caught his attention. It wasn't really interesting, but he couldn't help but look as he ran. He didn't notice Lucy was already in sight until Happy pointed her out.

"Lucy!" Natsu called.

"Oh, hey, Natsu. Sorry, I guess today was a bad day. How about tomorrow, given that it doesn't rain again?" Lucy said.

"But we're already outside right now, right? So what do you need?"

"That's true, but it's kind of late. We won't really be able to do much…" She stopped midway in her sentence and mentally slapped herself for her stupidity. Leave it to the clueless Natsu to take everything literally.

Natsu was still waiting for an answer; what should she do? Thinking fast, she pointed up to the sky, having found inspiration there. "I wanted to show you that." With her finger, she traced a V-shaped pattern of stars. "That's the constellation Pisces. It represents duality. Kind of reminded me of how you can be both scary and nice at the same time. Interesting, right?" The words were out before she knew it. Had she really just said something so…embarrassing?

"Well that was weird, huh Happy?" Natsu asked the exceed as they watched Lucy turn around and walk away.

"Aye, Lucy is weird."

* * *

The next day, when Natsu entered the guild, he immediately felt the air of unease. According to the theory of cognitive dissonance, the choice Natsu should have made was to remain quiet in order to avoid inconsistency in the mood. But the dragon-slayer was never one to conform to any rules.

"Laxus! Fight me!" he challenged. The only response Natsu heard was a chorus of "you idiot" being muttered by various members. "Oi, don't just ignore me!"

"Will you shut up, Natsu?"

Natsu didn't believe it. He was hearing things, right? Because those words were inconsistent with the voice of the speaker.

"Li—Lisanna?" Natsu stuttered, because it was indeed Lisanna who spoke.

At the mention of her name, the girl seemed to have regained her usual persona. "I...sorry, I'll go for a walk." And with that, Lisanna ran out the guild door, leaving Natsu in a state of disbelief.

After a while, Natsu snapped back into reality. He went up to the counter to order some food. It helped him think. What had he done wrong to deserve that retaliation from Lisanna of all people?

"Nothing," said Mirajane as if reading his thoughts. "Do you know what makes Take-Over so special as opposed to other forms of transformation magic?"

"The name?" Natsu replied.

Mirajane smiled. "Well, that too. Regular transformation is just a mask or disguise. But in order to use Take-Over, users have to actually know what they transform into. They take on the transformation's personality, abilities, everything. Getting to the point, animals are peaceful creature, which is why Lisanna is always so caring. But when animals are at a lost, they start lashing out."

"I don't get it."

"Basically, Lisanna is at a lost about something. It has nothing to do with anything you did."

At a lost? Natsu still didn't quite get it, but that meant something was bothering Lisanna, right? For the third time in two days, Natsu engaged in the act of using his head. If something was bothering a guild mate, there was only one natural thing to do: obliterate the cause. But what exactly was the cause?

"_I don't think that's the only reason Lisanna hasn't taken on missions recently." _Those were Erza's words, and Natsu had a feeling it was related. The reason Lisanna hasn't gone on missions. A list of possibilities formed in Natsu's head, but none were quite plausible.

Natsu decided a different approach. When was the last time Lisanna went on a mission? Nine years ago. That was the day of the tragedy Natsu would never forget. Can it be that the reason Lisanna didn't go on missions was because she was still affected by that day? It had to be, because Natsu was at the limit of racking his brain for ideas.

The next question was what can he do about it?

"_That's the constellation Pisces. It represents duality."_

Duality…

* * *

Natsu found Lisanna in a grassy area sitting under a tree. He couldn't help but notice the sadness in her eyes.

"Hey, Lisanna," he approached.

Lisanna looked up, startled. "Natsu…I'm sorry about earlier."

"Don't worry about it." Natsu plopped down next to Lisanna. "So do you mind telling me what's wrong?"

There was silence for a while before Lisanna said, "Anima—" (Natsu was relieved that he was right.) "I just can't get rid of this feeling of derision towards it. But if I hate Anima, that's the same as hating the people in Edolas, who were so nice to me. I just don't know what to think."

"That's simple. Don't hate Anima. Then your problem will be solved."

"It's not that easy."

"I'll make it easy, then. I'll make you treasure the term."

"And how will you go about that," Lisanna asked, curious.

Natsu took a deep breath before launching into his speech, "On the surface, fire is a blaze of destruction—it represents chaos. But on a deeper level, it is a calming hearth that brings about peace. Animals are quite the opposite. On the surface, they are creatures of harmony—peace. But on the deeper level, they represent chaos as ferocious predators. Basically, you, being peaceful on the surface, represent my subconscious peace. And I represent your subconscious chaos. I guess you can say we were soul mates since birth. Our meeting was an event that occurs maybe only once a lifetime:

The union between you and me, the anima and the animus."


End file.
